The Harvester Arc 3: Angel's Tears
by Jakathi
Summary: Soralis tracks a group killing priests and fighters to SloanVille. Finds out about Rayden's relationship to Shao Kahn and her own relationship to the thunder god. Rewrite of Purgatory
1. Chapt 1: Fates

Ok, like I promised before, I'm rewriting the entire series. Angel's tears will replace Purgatory and hopefully be a lil' less confusing than Purgatory. This story is a lead up to Shadow Knight. Note-This is a rewrite, so I'm keeping the stuff I think is good, throwing out the stuff I think is bad and adding stuff as well. Hope u enjoy. Thankies for bearing with me.  
  
Jakathi  
  
  
  
  
  
Fates  
  
Some debts can never be repaid  
  
1 From the Harvester's Journal  
  
Mexico City, 300 years ago:  
  
Soralis carefully lowered the Nephilim down on the small cave's floor, her face a mask of grief and pain. The seer had disappeared over four weeks ago from the monastery that had sheltered him. She had followed the trail to Mexico City and the Spanish Governor's personal, spell-warded dungeons. After a vicious battle with the guards, she and Erik escaped, closely followed by the Spaniards.  
  
"Erik, please don't die," she whispered as she knelt beside him. She could feel the Spaniards closing in on their hiding place.  
  
He smiled up at her as he stroked back a stray lock of hair that fell across her face. "Don't little cat, it's time," he said softly as she gathered power around her, power that would heal him.  
  
"No it's not," she replied vehemently.  
  
He let his hand fall back and she gently took it in her own. He sighed. It was only fifty years since she had risen to the twelfth circle of the Shadowlord hierarchy. When she had attained that rank, she also had become by default, the virtual ruler over every true garou and shape-shifter on the planet.  
  
As the Shadowlord holding Earth, she was also the protector of humanity and defended the planet against all outside threats. She had already proven her competence in every role she had taken, thus far. He hoped that she would be able to handle the role she was about to receive.  
  
"I'm sorry Soralis, this is what god wants," he said, his eyes shifting, taking on a silvery, inhuman luminescence.  
  
"No," she whispered. "NO!"  
  
"Not even you can stop fate," he whispered and laughed. His laughter turned into a racking cough that shook his bruised and torn body. "We'll meet again," he promised as he reached up and tugged her down. He kissed her and the luminescence faded from his eyes. Soralis sobbed as he died in her arms.  
  
***  
  
SloanVille Present Time:  
  
Soralis sighed as she hunched over her coffee. Winter had hit hard in this part of the country and it was bitterly cold outside. She glanced outside and scowled. Snow. Christ, why did I have to come here? But she had no choice in the matter. None at all.  
  
A trail of bodies; mangled, mutilated and burned past all identification had led her from Los Angeles to here. And the killer was after more than mere pleasure from the pain of others. She winced as pain hit her, immobilizing her.  
  
Far below her, behind a podium was a man, a man dressed in robes. Shaolin? She asked herself. Oh hell, it's the Dahli Llama! She realized as he jerked backwards, falling to the ground. Something drew her gaze to the catwalks in front of her. A creature clothed in black lowered a metallic tube from his mouth and grinned at her before fading back into the darkness.  
  
Soralis cursed softly as the vision faded and she focused on her newspaper. Dahli Llama to speak today in City Forum  
  
***  
  
Cain waved his hand over the still waters of the fishpond, revealing the wavering image of a woman with white hair and strange gold eyes. He could feel the power pulsing beneath her skin, despite the layers of darkness she shielded herself with. He felt a wave of pity for this woman; she was in a great deal of pain, pain she hid from the rest of the world. She vanished into the blinding white of the falling snow. Within the falling snow, a crescent moon appeared, surrounded by a nimbus of softly glowing light.  
  
  
  
"Hmm, A Shadowlord? Interesting." The vision flickered, shifting into a symbol for Maat, with an owl and crow hovering on both sides of the scale.  
  
"The Isisethren? How?" he asked as the water of the fishpond shivered, revealing the image of two dragons, intertwined. Overhead, lightning cracked in the storm clouds and soft thunder boomed around him. Cain's eyes widened and he lowered his eyes in reverence.  
  
***  
  
Soralis crouched in the darkness of the catwalks overlooking the auditorium's stage. She was dressed in dark jeans, turtleneck and boots and she was swathed in a black duster that concealed the sword strapped to her back. She gazed down at the crowd of police and Shaolin, before scanning the catwalks around her. Nothing. Something drew her back down again and she smiled as she recognized a familiar face. "Well, well, well Kermit. Still favoring sunglasses after all these years?" she laughed softly to herself.  
  
***  
  
Brazil, fifteen years ago:  
  
"Hurry, they're right behind us!" Jack O'Neil shouted as Soralis and Griffin ducked behind some pillars in the old monastery. Terrorists armed with explosives and automatics converged upon the trio.  
  
"Tell me something I don't know." She muttered as she checked the magazine from the gun.  
  
"How many do you have left?" she asked Griffin, who was hiding behind a pillar to her right.  
  
"Not enough!"  
  
"These guys aren't known for their polite manners kid," he shouted. "If you got any leftovers, use them!"  
  
Soralis scowled and gazed at the stone roof. It was barely supported by rotting, wooden beams. "Get outta here! I'm gonna blow it!" she shouted as she closed her eyes, summoning the power that lay deep within her mind.  
  
The two men leveled a barrage of gunfire at the on-coming terrorists and threw themselves out into the open air. Behind them, the building exploded, taking most of the terrorists with it.  
  
"You think she made it out?" Jack O'Neil asked Griffin as they ran into the jungle.  
  
"No one could have survived that blast." Kermit replied breathlessly.  
  
***  
  
She sighed and winced as she looked past him at the man he was talking to. He was older, dressed casually. The man seemed disturbed by something and kept glancing towards the catwalks as if sensing her presence. She shrank back into the darkness and drew it around her, letting it cloak her completely.  
  
She could feel his mind probing the darkness as if searching for something. Gifted. Great. Just what I don't need. She thought as she shielded herself against his mental probes.  
  
The police began directing the civilians to seats and the auditorium quieted as the Dahli Llama entered the room, surrounded by his own personal bevy of high-ranking priests. She kept a careful eye on the shadows around her, knowing that if she could entered unnoticed by the police, something else could too.  
  
The Dahli Llama stepped up to the podium and began talking. She was only half-listening to him, when she heard soft movement behind her. Soralis whirled, slamming whatever, whoever it was behind her into the wall. From her clenched fist, two adamintium claws popped out with a wet, metallic sounding hiss and pinned the individual between them. A third popped out and gently pricked the person's throat.  
  
As her eyes cleared, she saw that it was the older man Kermit had been talking to. He wasn't trying to fight her and she scowled as she withdrew the third claw so he could breath more easily.  
  
"Who are you?" she hissed.  
  
"Cain. I'm not the enemy," he replied softly, reasonably as he showed her the brands on his arms.  
  
"Saa. Shaolin," she murmured. Her head jerked up as she heard frightened screams.  
  
"DAMNIT!" she shouted.  
  
"It's happening!" she screamed as she saw the assassin on another catwalk. She jerked her hand free from the wall and turned towards the assassin.  
  
"NO! I'll take care of him!" Cain told her. "Get to the Dahli Llama, you can save him!" he said as he jumped to the other catwalk, landing neatly and disappeared into the darkness, going after the shadow assassin.  
  
Soralis breathed deeply, bracing herself for the pain and raised her hand towards the opposite catwalk. A metallic chain shot out from her hand and wrapped itself around the railing. She jumped, the chain trailing after her, slowing her descent. She landed and the chain retracted into her hand.  
  
She paid no notice to the quickly healing wound on her hand and knelt before the fallen Shaolin. She cursed as she fumbled for the pouch attached to her belt, not noticing the police converging on her and the Dahli Llama.  
  
"Freeze lady!" a young man shouted as he pointed his gun at her. His companions followed suit.  
  
She held out her hands in supplication. "Do you want him to live?" she asked seriously. "I can save him if you'll let me. If you don't, he will die."  
  
The young man looked at her searchingly. She could feel a clumsy attempt at a probe that she easily deflected and he sighed as he holstered his weapon. His eyes were slightly unfocused and she knew that he was seeing something that his fellows could not. She smiled as she let the some of the darkness she shielded herself fall away. He blinked and paled. "Put up your weapons," he ordered.  
  
"Peter!" one of the female officers shouted in shock.  
  
"Do it!" he commanded. They reluctantly obeyed.  
  
"Can you really help him?" he asked as they both knelt before the Dahli Llama.  
  
"Yes, it's Lanotherin poison." She murmured as she examined the priest.  
  
"What's that?" he asked as she took out a small vial filled with a greenish looking fluid from her pouch.  
  
"Antidote. If I don't give this to him, his insides will turn to liquid," she replied.  
  
Peter winced. "How do you happen to have the antidote?" he asked as she carefully dripped some of the foul-looking fluid into the Llama's mouth.  
  
"I found someone who knew how to make the counter and beat the crap out of him until he told me." She said off-handedly as she capped the flask and returned it to the pouch.  
  
She grinned at his shocked expression. "He deserved it. Trust me." She said as the Llama began to stir.  
  
His eyes opened and he looked at her. "Who?" he asked weakly.  
  
"Shhh. Don't talk," she said. "The antidote takes time to work." She told him softly.  
  
He smiled and closed his eyes.  
  
Cain came up and knelt beside her. "Is he?"  
  
"He'll recover." She looked at him. "The assassin?"  
  
"Dead," he replied. "He committed suicide."  
  
"Ahh." She said as they moved out of the para-medics way.  
  
"Miss?" Peter asked quietly. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me to give your statement."  
  
She grinned. "I figured as much." she said and ran her fingers through silver-white hair. "Lead the way."  
  
They walked out of the auditorium. 


	2. Chapt 2: Confronting the past

Confronting the Past  
  
Vengeance is cold comfort. Justice is colder, but longer lasting.  
  
From the Harvester's Journal  
  
Kermit scowled darkly as he recognized the woman walk into the detective's pen. Soralis hadn't changed much since he had last seen her. He walked over casually. "Peter, I'll take her statement." He said, smiling disarmingly.  
  
Soralis flinched. She had dreaded this moment. "Hullo Kermit, long time no see,"  
  
"Likewise," Kermit replied, in that same, mild tone. Peter looked at both of them.  
  
"You two know each other?"  
  
"We played together in the big ring for a while," he replied, referring to his time spent as a CIA agent. He glanced at Peter, knowing the younger man would pick up the hint. Skip it. He thought. I'll tell you later.   
  
Peter shrugged. "Ok," he said, accepting his friend's wishes.  
  
Kermit escorted Soralis into his office, offering her a seat. She took it and pulled it up to the desk, deliberately making it hard for herself to get out of Kermit's way, should he decide to attack. Kermit frowned, recognizing her actions for what they were.  
  
"Thought you were dead kid," he told her, deceptively calm.  
  
Soralis smiled slightly. "I don't die easily."  
  
He snorted. "So I see. What brought you to SloanVille? It wasn't to take in the local tourist traps that's for sure. Every time we hooked up, back in the old days, you were after some sort of terrorist, serial killer or psycho mass murderer."  
  
She smiled sadly. "I'm afraid that's exactly what brings me to SloanVille." She said as she showed him her detective's license.  
  
He looked at it carefully. "Harvester Investigations?" he murmured out loud. The license looked genuine.  
  
"So who are you looking for this time?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.  
  
"A particularly nasty group that seems to be targeting martial-artists and priests of all descriptions, regardless of race, social standing or creed. I've been able to link at least twenty deaths to them. Most of the victims died badly." She said as she fished out a few photos from her wallet. He paled and set them aside. They were very unpleasant.  
  
He looked at her hard and she swallowed. "Why haven't you aged any since I last saw you?" he demanded.  
  
"Good bone structure?" she replied quickly.  
  
"Not good enough," he said softly.  
  
Soralis sighed as she gently probed his mind. She was slightly surprised at the things he had witnessed in the past few years. He's been exposed to the Veil. I suppose I can trust him with some of the truth. She thought as she carefully withdrew from his mind and considered her options. She finally looked up at him.  
  
"Essentially, I'm a mutant, an external to be more precise. I'm virtually immortal, though I can be hurt." She winced slightly as she sent a mental command to her symbiont. Three adamantine claws popped out from between her knuckles, gleaming brightly in the florescent light.  
  
"I think I'm around six hundred years old. Around three hundred years ago a friend gave me the ability of foresight. This ability lead me to the first body and another identified the Dahli Llama as a potential target and I moved to intercept." She said as she gave another command to the symbiont. The claws slowly slid back into her hand; the wounds that they made healed almost instantaneously.  
  
Kermit face registered his shock and disbelief. He could barely comprehend what his friend had just told him, nor could he believe what he had just witnessed. "You're a mutant? Why didn't you tell me before?" he demanded.  
  
"Would you have believed me?" she asked bluntly.  
  
"No, but I've seen a lot since then." He replied honestly, losing what little anger he had towards her.  
  
She smiled. "I'm sorry."  
  
"You're forgiven." He told her and she laughed lightly.  
  
"I can't put this in the report. I mean, no one would believe in a 600 year old or older mutant hunting down psychos for a living. They might believe the visions, but that's a long shot."  
  
Soralis smiled. "Just tell them an abbreviated version of the truth: I'm a private investigator who was hired to track down and stop a cult that has been targeting priests and martial artists. Since the Dahli Llama is a very prominent figure in the religious world, he was a logical target. So I decided on my own to watch out for the nasties and got lucky."  
  
"That'll work." Kermit nodded.  
  
***  
  
As she exited the precient, she frowned, looking at the buildings in front of her. The same individual that had been tagging her from Los Angeles was somewhere in one of those buildings, watching her. She could feel his presence in her mind, a wintry shadow. The individual did not feel at all menacing. He, she felt strongly that her tag was a he, seemed to be protecting her from something. Or watching her back.  
  
As she walked towards her hotel, she could sense another presence following her. Cain. This will prove interesting, she thought as she went into her room and closed the door. She shrugged off her over-coat, revealing a slender, acrobatic build.   
  
The only ornamentation she wore was a silver bracelet etched with strange runes and a silver ring set with a large fire opal. She scowled, running her hands through her hair as she looked at the mirror in her bathroom. She looked and felt like hell. Maybe a shower, she thought as she slowly undressed, carefully laying her sword within easy reach, before stepping into the tub.  
  
She let the water cascade over her, washing away the day's events. When she was done and decently dressed; she left the bathroom and wasn't surprised to find that she wasn't alone.  
  
The man sitting cross-legged on her bed was young, in his late twenties, early thirties maybe. Her practiced eye identified him as belonging to Lin Kuei clan of shadow assassins, a group that had sworn allegiance to her long ago.  
  
"It's not nice to enter a lady's room uninvited my friend, nor is it polite to follow her from Los Angeles to here," she told the man.  
  
He got up and bowed. "Forgive me my lord, but we felt you might be a target. I was assigned to protect you by my clan leader. We felt that this might somehow repay you for the favors you have granted us in the past. I am Sub-Zero."  
  
She inclined her head. "Thank you, but I believe I am well equipped to take care of myself."  
  
He looked at her directly. "Even against the hell god Shinnok?" he countered.  
  
"What?" she looked surprised. "Please explain." She gestured for him to sit as she took a chair, sat down and faced him.  
  
"Ages ago, the thunder god Rayden refused to kill his brother after beating him in a sacred combat that would decide which sibling would rule by their father's side. Rayden was banished to earth for that weakness, that inability to kill a family member for power. Shinnok was enraged when he learned that Rayden had become the guardian of earth and a god of great power. He, along with his other son Shao Kahn, plotted to kill the Lord Rayden in order to take earth and all of her resources for themselves. Rayden found out and managed to defeat them with a group of brave, young humans."  
  
He paused for breath before going on. "The Elder gods intervened and banished Shinnok to the dead Realms for his crimes."  
  
He got up and began pacing. "Around 700 years ago, Rayden met and fell in love with a young, foreign woman of remarkable bravery and compassion. They became lovers for a time. She abruptly cut off the relationship and fled without telling Rayden. We later learned that she had been killed in a far-off land."  
  
He knelt before her and took her hands in his own. "Our sages and seers believe that that woman was your mother." He looked at her. "The Lin Kuei owe you a debt we can never repay, you gave us asylum when we were banished from Outland and you protected us from Shao Kahn's assassination squads. Now you are in danger my lord, for Shinnok's cult is responsible for the deaths you are investigating. If he is set free, he will hunt you down and claim you for his own, or destroy you."  
  
Soralis was reeling with shock. Everything, everything the shadow assassin said was truth; she could feel it in her bones, in her soul. Memories, long buried resurfaced. Her mother, oh her mother, center of her young world, swinging her around in a dizzy circle, their laughter ringing and bouncing back from the valley's tall trees.  
  
She remembered her mother teaching her to swim and to read and Soralis remembered her kissing her goodbye for the last time. That night, she felt her mother die violently by some unseen hand. There were darker memories, memories she wished she could obliterate from her mind forever.  
  
***  
  
Well of Souls, Outland 500 years ago:   
  
Soralis was escorted into the chamber. She was exhausted, nearing the end of her reserves of strength and sanity. She raised her head, mustering what little courage and dignity she had left and glared at the Lord of Outland, Shao Kahn.   
  
"Your destiny awaits my dear," he said laughingly as he pointed at the clear, glass-like tube. Around the tube were metallic, foreign objects she could not identify.  
  
"I'll die before I serve you," she told him steadily.  
  
He grinned. "That's the idea," he nodded to the guards. "Put her in,"  
  
The guards shoved her into the tube and chained her in it. The last thing she saw before the clear, molten liquid poured over her was Shao Kahn grinning triumphantly at her. Then there was nothing but pain.  
  
***  
  
"Shao Kahn knew, didn't he?" she asked him softly. "He had to have known who I was."  
  
"In all likely hood, yes." Sub-Zero let go of her hands and got to his feet. "It would have given him great pleasure to set you against your father."  
  
"I have to confirm this," she told him.  
  
He smiled slightly. "I would expect no less my lord." He replied.  
  
In the shadows, Cain observed the conversation and closed his eyes. This was not good. He would have to share this information with others and soon. Very soon...  
  
Elsewhere....  
  
Deep underground, shielded by layers of ancient sorceries was an individual. He was bone white, draped in strange, archaic robes. The creature knelt, surrounded by flames and eternal night.  
  
"The Isisethren lives," The creature murmured. "She is under the protection of Anubis and Osiris as well as the Jade Emperor."  
  
"I suspected as much, only another god could have hid her from me and only a greater god could have hid her aura from Shinnok." Another deeper voice replied from the flames and the darkness that surrounded the demon.  
  
"She saved the Dahli Llama's life," the demon said softly.  
  
Silence. Then...  
  
Quiet, mocking laughter echoed in the chamber. "Her ability to survive is indeed impressive as is her sense of duty. She may yet be of use to us. Watch and wait for an opportunity to take her alive."  
  
"My lord, we tried to take her once and she escaped. This time it may prove impossible."  
  
"Why, pray?" the voice demanded sarcastically.  
  
"Rayden is aware of her and she now has the aid of the Lin Kuei assassin Sub-Zero."  
  
"Rayden...." The voice rumbled. "This was unforeseen. Does he know of his relationship to The Harvester?"  
  
"He most likely suspects, but has held off any attempts at contact." The sorcerer replied.  
  
The voice laughed quietly. "I have another idea Quan Chi...." 


	3. Chapt 3: Shadowed Path

Shadowed Path  
  
You can never trust a dark lord. Never.  
  
From the Harvester's Journal  
  
Soralis climbed to the top of a huge building near the center of town, followed at a discrete distance by Sub-Zero. Another Shadowlord had agreed to meet her there, one that had saved her life and soul a long time ago.  
  
She felt a shiver of strange energies, energies that always heralded her old master, a creature known only as Prophet. The Shadowlord stood beside her, as if he was always there. As far as she knew, he might well have been.  
  
"He follows for a reason." Prophet said, indicating the ninja.  
  
"Yes. He believes I may be a target." She smiled slightly.  
  
"With good reason. You are a target, by more than one." He replied.  
  
"So is it true? Am I Rayden's daughter?" she asked.  
  
Prophet inclined his head. "Yes. The council has confirmed it. You are Rayden's daughter."  
  
Soralis closed her eyes. "It explains much." She sighed. "Why Shao Kahn was so willing to burn those troops to capture me, why he did his best to turn me into a brain-dead monster loyal only to him, why he would want to set me against Rayden…"  
  
"Indeed. Even if you did not kill your father, it would put him severely off-balance." Prophet replied dryly.  
  
Soralis looked at the black-clad, black veiled Shadowlord. "And what are the Gray Council's orders?" she asked shrewdly.  
  
He smiled behind the veil. His former apprentice had always been blunt. Not even centuries of experience could take that bluntness away. It was refreshing not to have to dance around the issue with another individual. "As you are well aware, Mortal Kombat is designed for mortals fighting for Earth. You are doubly, triply barred from such an arena. You can only deal with Shao Kahn and Shinnok outside those parameters."  
  
"And if they break the rules?" she countered.  
  
He laughed hollowly. "Then there will be nothing barring you from interfering."  
  
"Understood." She replied and leaned against the waist-high wall. There was another shiver of energies surrounding the powerful Shadowlord and then he was gone. Sub-Zero joined her.  
  
"This changes things." She replied.  
  
"True. Are you going to tell them?" he asked, meaning Cain and his associates.  
  
Soralis knuckled her eyes in frustration. "No. Not yet. This is complicated enough without dealing with them."  
  
Without warning, she was assaulted by a vision. Sub-Zero caught her before she could fall off the building.  
  
She was underground, in a room carved from living rock. Lining the walls in intricate patters were bones, bones still warm from the bodies that once housed them. Soralis gagged as the stench assailed her. In the center of the room, was a bloodstained altar.  
  
Tied to it was a man, struggling against the shackles that held him. Soralis screamed soundlessly as a demonic priest lashed out with his knife, cutting the man's heart out. The man died, his soul swirling around the still warm heart held in the priest's hands. Around the priest the walls shook and a red glow drowned out the room and the priest with bloody hands.  
  
Power flared, dark power, power linked to the dead and dying. Power linked to those who died badly flared and drowned out the red glow. Soralis could here the screams of thousands, thousands of damned souls. Something was coming through, something nature rebelled against. Soralis held her hands in front of her face, blocking the sight of the man-like creature that stepped out of the portal.  
  
The priest bowed, bowed to the creature, who looked like a man, but was not. The creature laughed. "Let it begin!" he said as the city shook.  
  
Soralis came back as the ground beneath them shook. Somehow during her vision, Sub-Zero had carried her off the building, carried her to safety. She was shaking uncontrollably as she clutched him. They were in a small alley and he carefully propped her up against the alley's wall.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked, checking for signs of injury knowing he would find none.  
  
"No, no, no…." she whispered. "It's begun…"  
  
***  
  
Kermit paced. "So Soralis lied to me?" he snarled.  
  
Cain shook his head. "No. I do not believe she deliberately mislead you. She seemed genuinely surprised by shadow assassin's revelations."  
  
"Ok, so she didn't tell me the complete truth, that makes me feel so much better." Kermit sighed as he sat down. "Man, you can't trust anyone nowadays."  
  
"That's besides the point Kermit. What we have to concentrate on is the fact that there is a cult running around planning to resurrect a hell god!" Peter snapped.  
  
"And you won't be able to defeat him alone," a tired voice interjected. The three men turned, to see Soralis and Sub-Zero entering from the balcony. The silver-masked Lin Kuei was half-supporting the young Shadowlord as he helped her sit down on the couch.  
  
"Soralis?" Kermit asked, glaring at the shadow assassin. "What did you do to her?" he demanded.  
  
"Kermit, it's alright. He's a friend." She told him as she held her head in both hands.  
  
Cain sighed as he went into his kitchen and came back with a cup filled with some sort of tea. "Here, drink this, it will take care of the backlash."  
  
She smiled at him gratefully and took the cup.  
  
Kermit scowled. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?" he snarled.  
  
Soralis sighed. "I did. I just didn't tell you the whole truth. I didn't think you would be capable of accepting it." She told him frankly. "It's too complicated."  
  
"So, tell us damnit!" Kermit demanded.  
  
"In between heaven and hell is a buffer plane called the Realm of Shadows. The Shadow plane is also a repository of all manner of creatures that don't quite fit in anywhere else. The lords of shadow are among the most powerful of these creatures and can manipulate most of the surrounding auras, including the gray of the shadow plane itself." Soralis paused and drank more of the liquid Cain gave her.  
  
"So what does this have to do with you?" Kermit asked.  
  
"The Shadowlords were created at the end of the last bout of god-wars at the beginning of time. We were charged with keeping a balance between good and evil, law and chaos. Without such a balance, the universe will start to unravel. Each Shadowlord is given a set territory to protect. The more powerful a Shadowlord, the more territory he has." She sipped a bit of the liquid and continued.  
  
"Earth is unique. Only one Shadowlord at anyone time is charged with its protection." She drained the cup and set it down.  
  
"Why?" Peter asked.  
  
"Because Earth is still being contested over Peter. Here, gods still walk, demons still contend for lost souls and things beyond your wildest nightmares infest the dark places of this world." She looked at each of them sadly.  
  
"Around five hundred years ago Soralis was accidentally sent to hell when she stopped a necromancer from opening a portal to hell itself. She survived hell and defeated the First Evil's standard, the Durat, in single combat. She refused the First's offer to take his place and was sent back to the Earth Realms. Three hundred years ago, she was overwhelmed in a fight with Outland warriors and taken to the Well of Souls, deep within Shao Kahn's Realm. There, he tried to turn her into a Spawn-like entity loyal only to him. This failed and she somehow escaped into the Realm of Shadows. The Shadowlords took her in and turned her into one of them. She holds Earth." He finished.  
  
"I find it hard to believe that your people would allow you to risk yourself like this," Kermit said dryly.  
  
"They don't have a choice and neither do I." She replied.  
  
"You can not be everywhere," Cain told her gently.  
  
"No I can not. I help those I can and leave the rest up to those with the power to do so." She said and told them what she saw in her vision.  
  
Peter looked shocked and sickened when she described the room of bones and the priest. "God, we have to stop it," he said.  
  
"It's too late. Shinnok is free and has allied himself with the lord of Outworld." A deeper voice interjected.  
  
They turned to see a man, well over six feet standing in the doorway. He had white hair, blue eyes, his features were aquiline and he had a well- defined build. In one hand was a staff and he was dressed in loose robes. Sub-Zero stood, pulling Soralis to his feet. Beside him the others did the same. Soralis looked stunned.  
  
"My lord Rayden…" Sub-Zero inclined his head in respect. 


	4. Chapt 4: Questions

Questions  
  
Nothing remains certain…  
  
From the Harvester's Journal.  
  
Soralis walked out to the balcony of the small apartment and stared at night sky. It had been several hours since Rayden had showed up on the Cain's doorstep and hasty plans had been made. They hoped to stop Shinnok before he managed to break free of the Dead Realm penumbra that the priests had accidentally created when they released him from his imprisonment.  
  
Her mind wandered over the years of uncertainty of who she was; where she had come from. She thought she had finally found her answers in Egypt more than fifty years ago. Now, she had even more questions.  
  
"You alright?" Rayden asked from beside her.  
  
She smiled slightly. "My life is getting way too complicated." She told him dryly. Rayden winced.  
  
"I'm sorry for what happened to you." Rayden blurted as he clenched the balcony's railing, his mind churning with anger and sickness as he thought about what she had gone through in Shao Kahn's hands.  
  
"It's not your fault your brother is a psycho," she replied. "Don't blame yourself for what he did." Soralis grinned. "Besides, he only made me that much more of a nuisance."  
  
"There is that," Rayden replied.  
  
"I'm going to have to make some arrangements for tomorrow nights festivities," she told him.  
  
"What sort of arrangements?" he asked curiously as he followed her down the balcony's ladder.  
  
"If we don't stop him, we will need backup. I need to alert the Medjai and a few others. I'm not leaving this to chance," she told him softly as they entered the alleyway. "Want to come?" she asked.  
  
He grinned. "I thought you'd never ask," 


End file.
